field trip

Leah took her first school field trip on the 21st of May. The kids had been learning about architecture and animals, and had a great field trip that included a little of everything. I was SO excited that I was able to get the day off work and join her ... and I think Leah was pretty excited about it, too! The morning was very eventful, with lots of activity in the classroom (children forgetting lunches, calls being made to home, Mary Rose getting her hair caught on the pencil sharpener, and even a social work moment was thrown in there!), but we finally made it onto the buses.

Our first stop was University Park and the surrounding area downtown.

The kids enjoyed seeing everything in person, since they'd been studying the pictures in class.

I'm not sure anyone really got the benefit of the whisper wall ...

not much true whispering going on with 2o+ kindergarten students!

We then walked down to Monument Circle. The kids got to point out old vs. new buildings.

Have you noticed the frogs downtown?

Then it was back to the buses and onward to Eagle Creek Park. We enjoyed our picnic lunches in one of the shelter houses, and then went to the old Nature Park for some education on water creatures (complete with the opportunity to stick your hand in pond water and touch tad poles ... something that Leah did not take advantage of). Can you find the turtle?

After a short "hike" through the woods, we stopped in the ornithology center.

The kids were all pretty exhausted by the time the trip was over, but everyone had a very nice time. We returned to school with about an hour left in the day. The kids watched a series of short movies based on the Leo Leoni books they've been reading in class, and then got to draw and write about their favorite part of the day. My favorite part was being with Leah and all of her little friends, and having the weather cooperate! The weather men were calling for day-long storms, but we didn't get a single drop of rain until Leah and I were climbing in the car at the end of the day! Leah and I finished up our day together with a quick stop at Starbucks for some juice and scones before picking up the rest of the bunch.